


Breaking and Entering, Theft and Arson

by therune



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-07
Updated: 2012-04-07
Packaged: 2017-11-03 05:03:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/377589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therune/pseuds/therune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>kinkmeme request: La Volpe and Leonardo interaction</p>
<p>contains La Volpe talking about him in third person, as every fic with him in it should</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breaking and Entering, Theft and Arson

Leonardo walked slowly to his workshop. He didn't want to go there, he didn't want to make any more designs for the Borgia, he didn't want any more blood on his hands.  
He knew that he couldn't stall forever, but he did his best to slow down.  
But he knew that he was being watched, his every move obseved by silent guards everywhere.

Today, he sat down on a bench and closed his eyes, head leaning back against the wall behind him. He felt tired - physically exhausted and mentally drained.  
If it was up to him, he'd burn all the designs he was forced to make for the Borgia, destroy all prototypes and possibly sock Cesare on the way out.  
Elaborate fantasies of escaping the Borgia entertained him, until he remembered the sword of damocles that hung over his head.  
He sighed.

"You look awful," a voice next to him said. Leonardo cracked one eye open and saw violet eyes and a slightly feral grin.  
"Hello to you, too, Volpe."  
La Volpe sat next to him, hands folded and head bowed, looking perfectly innocent and casual to any observers.  
"We are being watched," Leonardo whispered, not wanting to endanger la Volpe. The last time one of his assistants had tried to help him - Leonardo still had nightmares about that, remembered the blood and Cesare´s sadistic grin.  
"I am aware of that. 5...4...3....2....1"  
"Thief!" the guards yelled and a huge commotion came up. A man ran through the streets, a huge group of guards following him. Apparently the man had robbed the chief of the guards.  
La Volpe turned around. "We have to be quick. Return to your workshop and pack your things. Divide your possessions into things you need to take with you and things that need to be destroyed. Be quick, my friend, la Volpe will liberate you."  
"But I can't. It's too dangerous, he'd hurt you and your friends, I've seen it happen. Please don't endanger yourself for me."  
La Volpe grinned.  
"La Volpe is afraid you have no choice in that matter."  
Then he vanished into the crowd.

Leonardo got up and walked to his workshop. Could it be? Could he be saved? But....no. He had to stop them, they would be hurt, because of him. He couldn't let them take these risks.  
He would have to convince them to leave him be, no matter how he wished to go with them.

He entered his workshop. The projects for the Borgia were on the tables, easels, pinned to the wall. His personal belongings were still packed in a few bags, he didn't want to take out more than he needed. He didn't want this workshop to be a home, to be familiar. His side projects - raw materials carefully salvaged, sketches drawn with lemon juice, hidden messages written in code - were hidden.  
He sat down and ran his hands through his hair.

A hand touched his back.  
He whirled around, but instead of staring into a faceplate and possibly a blade, he saw violet eyes.  
"La Volpe, it's too dangerous. They will come after the assassins, you can't risk it, please. It will be safer for the assassins if I stay here."  
"Do you want to be here?"  
"No, I despise it. I hate myself for the designs, for being such a coward. If I was brave, Iwould have died instead of making designs for them. There is no way out, I will just be a liability to the assassins."  
"This is no mission for the assassins," la Volpe said, "this is thieves' business. We're stealing you, Leonardo."  
"What?" 

More people came through the windows, and Leonardo had to laugh. Half of them were dressed like him, down to fake beards, the cape and the red hat.  
La Volpe commanded his thieves to take Leonardo's personal effects. He burned the Borgia projects, making sure every scrap of paper and parchment was destroyed, every model shattered and not even the ashes could be of any use.  
He told Leonardo to change into a set of clothes he had brought with him. Leonardo did that and packed the things he made for Ezio into a sack. It was disturbing how few things were in there.  
Then a loud crash startled him. The thieves weren't just taking his belongings, they were destroying the workshop methodically. They flipped tables, broke everything that was fragile, tore up fabrics and books and shattered a window.  
"Just for appearance's sake," la Volpe informed him as he smashed a wine bottle - a gift of gratitude from his employers - against the wall. "We are an angry bunch of thugs who broke into the workshop, trying to find gold and valuable objects. And when we sadly didn't, we smashed the place and kidnapped you."  
After the workshop was utterly destroyed (Leonardo helping by happily taking his frustrations out on furniture, plates and everything that was breakable) the thieves paired up, each pair containing a fake Leonardo.  
La Volpe pulled a bottle from his tunic and splattered red liquid on the floor.  
"La Volpe's afraid we were really angry thieves," he said. The fake Leonardos smeared themselves with the liquid and Leonardo saw through the plan. The Leonardos pretended to be unconscious and being kidnapped, the thieves that were "kidnapping" them ran into different directions, drawing the guards with them, while Leonardo and la Volpe calmly walked out of the front door.

La Volpe stopped and held out a torch to Leonardo.  
"Do you want to do the honours?" he asked.  
"Gladly," Leonardo replied and hurled the torch through the shattered window.  
"We should run, my friend."  
"Why? We wanted to inconspicuous."  
"It would be very inconspicuous if we didn't run now," Leonardo said and began to run, grinning mischievously. La Volpe caught up with him.  
"Don´t tell me you-"  
"Yes. Cesare wanted big explosions - he can have one."

As the guards pursued five Leonardos through Rome and lost them, the workshop exploded, people screamed, other guards rushed to the place. La Volpe led Leonardo to their head quarters.  
"The sleeping fox? Nice, I like it." Leonardo said.

They were sitting, surrounded by fake Leonardos and thieves, drinking to their successful rescue.  
"You will need to change your appearance," la Volpe said. He took hold of Leonardo's chin and looked at his face. "You have to lose the beard, maybe dye your hair. Oh, and don't wear the hat."  
Leonardo´s head lolled from side to side, he was drunk on wine, freedom, exctasy of being rid of the Borgia and the giddy rush of things exploding.  
"Not the hat!"  
"Yes, the hat."  
Leonardo pouted and pressed the hat onto his hair with both hands.  
La Volpe laughed. "Already, you seem twenty years younger." He put an arm around Leonardo's shoulders and pulled him close.  
"It is good to see you as a free man again."  
"It is so much better to be a free man, albeit one who has to hide himself and isn't allowed to wear his favorite hat."  
La Volpe laughed. "You are drunk, my friend."  
"I suppose I am," Leonardo replied, resting his head on la Volpe's shoulders.  
La Volpe smiled as Leonardo fell asleep against his side, arms wrapped la Volpe's arm.  
"We may have risked the wrath of the Borgia by freeing you, but it was worth it," he mumbled into Leonardo's hair.


End file.
